


Dawn of a new day

by A_Starry_Night



Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21726490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Starry_Night/pseuds/A_Starry_Night
Summary: Deleted scene of EWTRtW. Ellie is shown something extraordinary.
Relationships: Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	Dawn of a new day

**Author's Note:**

> So I was looking through a stack of old papers and I came across a couple that had this scene on it that I'd written for EWTRtW that I'd completely forgotten about. It doesn't really do much to advance the plot, really, but I loved it so I'm posting it anyway separately.
> 
> You'll need to have read Everybody Wants To Rule the World before this. Otherwise it won't make much sense. Takes place immediately after the medical bay scene in chapter 16.

Ellie allowed their relieved hug to go on for a whole minute, trying to ignore the fact that she was trembling hard enough to shake both herself and Alec. There was a niggling voice that was saying that it probably wasn’t workplace rules to allow such displays—it certainly wasn’t for her and Alec Hardy.

But he’d just come back from the dead. Ellie would give them both this. His fingers were still carding through her wayward curls in an uncustomary soothing way and he hadn’t let up on his grip on her, but that was okay. She hadn’t let go of him, either. “You’ve got to stop dying on me,” she said with her face pressed wearily on his shoulder. 

He huffed out an amused grunt in response. “I’ll try not to.”

It hit them both at the same moment their actions; Ellie drew back like she’d been burned, flushing a deep red and clearing her throat awkwardly, and Alec rubbed at the back of his neck and couldn’t quite meet her eye. Jack, she was mildly annoyed to notice, was outright smirking at their antics from where he stood with an arm around Jenny’s shoulders.

“Well, then,” the Doctor remarked, breaking the moment before it could spiral into new awkward depths. “No need to thank me, of course. Shall we get on?”

Yes, the awkwardness was definitely passing, replaced now with rising indignation. Ellie’s mouth fell open as she struggled to find her voice. “ _You_ —!” 

Too late. The Time Lord was already gone, the doors of the Tardis’s medical bay sliding shut behind him, and Ellie spluttered under her breath. Jack laid a sympathetic hand on her arm. “He’s like that.”

She swore in response, crossing her arms. “Inherent,” she sneered at Alec. “I see it now.”

“Oi, don’t look at me!” he protested, scowling back at her. “ _He_ made _me_ , not the other way ‘round!”

They glared at each other for a moment, but in the present state they couldn’t hold it. It was all so patently ridiculous that Ellie abruptly found her lip twitching at a smile, and then she was starting to giggle which turned into a full laugh. Alec didn’t share the humor, didn’t quite understand what it was that was so funny to her, but the flabbergasted expression on his face only made her laugh harder. The rational part of her brain still currently working was informing her it was a mix of relief and crashing adrenaline that was fueling her fit of laughter, and that maybe it would be smart to stop herself before it turned into something approaching hysteria, but what could be bad now? The Doctor had literally just saved Alec’s life.

Alec rolled at his eyes and sighed, looking over her head at Jack. “I’m missing something here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah,” the captain replied easily, “a normal reaction to _bloody well dying_.”

“Like _you_ can talk, Harkness!”

“Eh, it’s the first dozen or so deaths that are weird. You get used to it eventually.”

“You’re both so screwed up,” Ellie informed them as evenly as she could. It took her another moment but when finally she’d calmed herself down sufficiently she continued. “I suppose I’m stuck with you, then, sir?”

He wrinkled his nose. “You don’t need to call me that right now.”

“Then _you_ don’t need to call me Miller,” she said smoothly, her smile sharpening as she spoke. She turned away and started towards the door and therefore missed the appreciative glance Alec gave her. She was so easy to rile, and she had such fire, that it amused him to see her go at it as much as it pleased him. 

Sod it. Made him love her. Standing from the table, he followed her out to the corridor. “Thank you, Old Girl.”

The Tardis hummed in his head, light and soft and playful as she responded to his gratitude. There was something sly there in what she said next, which made him break out in a wide smile, excited despite himself. She was in a good mood—the console room was to his immediate right, so he didn’t have to walk very far.

Ellie was just turning to the Doctor to ask him what they were going to do next when Alec came up behind her. “Do you mind, Doctor?”

The question made absolutely no sense to her until the Doctor stepped back from the console and waved a hand in its general direction. “Go on, then. Impress her.”

Ellie flushed as Alec brushed past her, but she was taken aback by the mischievous grin that he sent her over his shoulder. The floor vibrated beneath her feet and then the world shuddered and jerked as he pulled levers and switches like he’d never left the Tardis at all. If Ellie had had any doubts about whether the Doctor had truly brought Alec back without any negative side effects, his sudden energy and quiet excitement effectively banished them.

“Where are you taking us?” she asked, moving to stand beside him at the console. 

“Earth,” he said, as he pulled a lever upwards, “like you’ve never seen it before.”

Ellie tilted her head curiously at his answer, and then the Tardis stilled from its flight and he was stepping away and down the ramp to throw open the doors.

She gaped as she slowly inched forwards. She’d expected to see ground, or the sky, or any number of things that labelled the Earth as such, but what she saw was a wide expanse of stars amidst a vast black and blue backdrop, stretching out for limitless miles outside the doors. “But it’s—it’s just… _space_ ,” she gasped out, rooted to the floor.

Alec had been standing only inches away from the open doorway, completely at ease with the fact that open space was literally within a hand’s breadth from reach, but now he came back up the ramp to her. Coming around her side he nudged her forwards invitingly. “It’s perfectly safe, Miller. The Tardis’ll protect you.”

A mix of awe and mistrust made her hesitate, attention still fully riveted on the impossible sight before her. Of all the things she’d seen the last week, this was undoubtedly the most breathtaking. “It’s open space!”

“Just look, Ellie,” he said softly in her ear. “Look outside the doors.”

The eagerness in his tone prompted her to look him over again. He was pale and there was definitely something shaky about him now that she was really trying to notice, but his eyes were bright and shining. Alive, she realized suddenly, that’s what she was seeing in his gaze and smile since piloting them here. He was alive here in a way he’d never been able to be during Danny’s case.

He belonged here. More than anything else, she realized that. He needed to be part of this world of aliens and time travel.

Slowly she turned away from him and his wide smile and did as he’d suggested to look out the doors, and she fell in love just a little more.

The Earth rotated far below them, a sphere of brilliant blue and green and brown silently spinning in the vacuum of space. Sunlight, glowing brilliantly on the surface of the planet, was spreading across Europe. 

Dawn. A new day.

“Puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it?”

Speechless, Ellie could only nod. Dear Lord, there could never be any going back now. 

Around them, the Tardis hummed in contentment. Her Doctor’s Metacrisis would have this woman as his companion forever now, just as it was meant to be, and Time could resume as it was supposed to.


End file.
